After taking a close look at the Falcons, theyre not as scary as I thought.

Taking advantage of HUGE turnover differentials and penalty margins have been as much a reason for their success as anything their offense is doing.

Sure Roddy White is shredding it, the rest of the offense has been pretty pedestrian. Gonzo has had good/average TE numbers , nothing amazing and Julio has barely shown with his hand injury.

The best team they've beaten so far (record) has been the Chargers at 3-1. The Chargers turned it over 4 times in that game. San Deigo has 3 wins agains bad 1-3 teams? The Saints are better than the Chargers and theyre terrible. This does'nt impress me.

The win vs. Denver? 3 picks by Peyton Manning, week 2 of the season. Couple that with 10 penalties against the broncos for 96 yards. Granted the Broncos D is alot better than ours but, this supposed high powered offense of the Falcons barely showed up in that game. Denver beat themselves IN ATLANTA! Again, not overly impressive.

What about the 40-24 drubbing they put on the KC Chiefs? Common denominator? 3 turnovers by KC. I'm starting to see a pattern here. Of course anyone will tell you turnovers are the key to winning. I think our offense is better than KC and they were able to move the ball well in that game.

Now to last weeks game vs. the Panthers (1-3 team). They had no answer for Newton. Carolinas D may be worse than ours. Carolina had to give that game away in the end for Atlanta to win. Turnovers and coaching decisions COST the Panthers the game, not the Falcons dominant performance.

Quite frankly, I'm not so sure the Falcons offense is better than the Saints (who at 0-4 are still putting up nice numbers) or the Bengals . Lets not forget our DB coach has a pretty good book on these guys.

I cant say if Atlanta is causing these turnovers or if it's the opponents fault. It certainly was in Carolina. Good teams will not make mistakes and capitalize on others, I get that. But every week? 3-4 turnovers by your opponent? Thats not domination, it's dicipline and luck. This makes em a team to be respected , sure. Not dominant or scary.

We dont turn the ball over, although RGIII needs to do better with ball security (fumbles) I don't expect us to recover our own in this game like we have been. I've seen nothing that would indicate they can force our QB to throw multiple picks.

Gotta stay on top of the penalties this week, particularly the 15 yard variety. Atlanta simply doesn't commit alot of penalties. Very diciplined club.

We have to make our $#@ %&*! field goals. WE cannot leave a single point off the board this week. If Cundiff hits his shots last week, we arent even talking as much about how bad our D was because the score wasnt even close.

The coverage was better last week, YAC was waaay down from what it has been. Freeman made some excellent throws on those big plays. Matty Ice will too. It's a given in todays NFL. When we have corners without great speed, you need size and safeties that can close to compensate. Right now we dont have either and opponents are just going to throw it up for grabs, hope for a penalty or that their guy comes down with it. We just have to eliminate the YAC and hold em to field goals. Were not gonna stop anyone between the 20's.

At 4-0 Atlanta is a good team. I suspect slightly overrated though. Now , let's go prove it.

We should really beat the hell out of the Falcons. I think if the defense can perform as good as in week 1, we win in a lopsided game, if the defense the last 3 weeks shows up and Cundiff decides to miss all his field goals the game will get ugly quick, we need to get into Matt Ryan's head EARLY, we need to win TOP then 3-2 and on the rise!!!

Guys, guys, guys, I love the optimism, but our defense is horrendous right now. I will just be happy with a win this week. I don't see us blowing out anyone right now because we can't get consistent stops. Oh and ATL is a top 5 team in the NFC, there's no debating that.

PAPDOG67 wrote:Guys, guys, guys, I love the optimism, but our defense is horrendous right now. I will just be happy with a win this week. I don't see us blowing out anyone right now because we can't get consistent stops. Oh and ATL is a top 5 team in the NFC, there's no debating that.

Top 5 doesn't mean much in the NFC. All the teams are so close this year and most teams will be the hunt in the last 2 or 3 games. Don't see any team doing better than 10 or 11 wins this year in the NFC

I hate to say it, but I think Roddy White and their TE will shred our secondary. If not in the first half, they will after halftime. Our best hope is exploiting their poor run defense to keep TOP on our side and the ball out of Ryan's hands.

Our inability to make adjustments at halftime is going to lead to another nail-biter.

PAPDOG67 wrote:Guys, guys, guys, I love the optimism, but our defense is horrendous right now. I will just be happy with a win this week. I don't see us blowing out anyone right now because we can't get consistent stops. Oh and ATL is a top 5 team in the NFC, there's no debating that.

I would like to debate that.

Atlanta has'n't played a top 5 team or anyone that could be considered as close to a top 5 team, particularly in the NFC. I think we've had the tougher schedule so far. Even though the Saints are 0-4 I think they are better than anyone the Falcons have played except the Broncos. The Bengals are a better team than anyone they've faced by a long shot.

Nope, their 4-0 record against mostly lower teir teams,(that have beaten themselves every time) don't make em top 5 in my book. This week could change all thet when I see em up close and personal. Until then, they aren't scaring me.

We cant beat ourselves this week. Thats how the Falcons win.Yep, theyre gonna score and rack up yards. Not at a pace we have'nt seen so far. Despite our defense, we've been in every game.

The only teams we've beaten are 1-7 combined, so I'm not sure we're going to just walk in there and dominate. In fact, I would expect a loss, unless this turns out to be a trap game, or we can run and keep them off the field and make it close at the end.

It will really be a measuring stick for sure, but one that if we lose, I'm not going to get down about, or if we win, I'm not going to get too up about. Stay Medium

Miss you 21

12/17/09 - Ding Dong the Witch is Dead...Which Old Witch? The Wicked Witch.

chiefhog44 wrote:The only teams we've beaten are 1-7 combined, so I'm not sure we're going to just walk in there and dominate. In fact, I would expect a loss, unless this turns out to be a trap game, or we can run and keep them off the field and make it close at the end.

It will really be a measuring stick for sure, but one that if we lose, I'm not going to get down about, or if we win, I'm not going to get too up about. Stay Medium

PAPDOG67 wrote:Guys, guys, guys, I love the optimism, but our defense is horrendous right now. I will just be happy with a win this week. I don't see us blowing out anyone right now because we can't get consistent stops. Oh and ATL is a top 5 team in the NFC, there's no debating that.

I would like to debate that.

Atlanta has'n't played a top 5 team or anyone that could be considered as close to a top 5 team, particularly in the NFC. I think we've had the tougher schedule so far. Even though the Saints are 0-4 I think they are better than anyone the Falcons have played except the Broncos. The Bengals are a better team than anyone they've faced by a long shot.

Nope, their 4-0 record against mostly lower teir teams,(that have beaten themselves every time) don't make em top 5 in my book. This week could change all thet when I see em up close and personal. Until then, they aren't scaring me.

We cant beat ourselves this week. Thats how the Falcons win.Yep, theyre gonna score and rack up yards. Not at a pace we have'nt seen so far. Despite our defense, we've been in every game.

The Falcons are light years ahead of any team we've played thus far. Don't kid yourself. This is not going to be a walk in the park. I could see us beating them only because they could have a let down after their division game with Carolina last week.